The choices that change us
by Mageta
Summary: Team 7 is different this time around. A single line up difference can change the entire dynamics of the team. Naruto, Ino and Sasuke grow up into different people as their experiences change the world they live in, for better or worse.
1. Introductions

**Disclaimer:**I don't own Naruto.

**Chapter 1 - Introductions**

The classroom was in a situation of ordered chaos this morning. The teacher had not yet arrived and the students were enjoying themselves. A blond haired kid entered the room with a grin that almost spread from ear to ear. Naruto was presently looking around for his pink haired beauty only to find that she hadn't arrived yet.

"Hey, Naruto. What are you doing here? This is only for people who passed, no dropouts allowed," Shikamaru asked him lazily. He had turned to face the boy while still in his seat.

"Hey I passed. What do you think this is?" He pointed to the Konoha symbol secured to his forehead.

"Troublesome."

Naruto continued down the steps to the front seats of the classroom as other students filed in. He didn't make it more than two rows before a loud commotion could be heard at the back of the classroom. Two girls were trying to force their way through the door at the same time, one with pink hair and one with blond.

"Get out of my way forehead."

"You first Ino-pig." Several seconds later they burst through the door at the same time.

"Ha. I'm first," both yelled out and then immediately began panting. It took several seconds before either of them recovered.

"I win again Sakura.

"Give it up. I had to look back to see you. My toe was at least an tenth of an inch ahead." The two girls began to grumble at each other, until the pink haired kunoichi looked around the room and found what she was looking for. She ran down the aisle.

"Hey, where are you going?" Ino asked after her.

"Hey Sakura, how are you…" Naruto never finished.

"Move it." Sakura brushed by him and shoved him aside. He was lucky enough to fall into an empty seat in the next row. "Good morning Sasuke."

The boy shot her a pointed look and maintained the glare as she continued.

"Mind if I sit next to you."

"Back off forehead. I'm sitting next to Sasuke." Ino grabbed her former friend's arm. Lightning seemed to shoot between their eyes.

Sakura growled out, "I was here first."

"I walked into the classroom before you did. Everybody saw it"

"Dream on."

At this point other fan girls began to join in the commotion. Each girl was claiming a right to sit next to the black haired boy.

Sasuke diverted his gaze back to the front of the room. 'Clueless.'

Eventually Sakura slid in neatly into seat next to him. Her arms came to together against her chest as she squealed at her good fortune. Ino just gave her a dirty look before turning on her heal with her nose in the air to sit right behind her.

Naruto, meanwhile, had recovered and managed to get to his feet. As Ino walked away he saw a perfect opportunity and slipped into the seat next to Sakura.

"Hey, Sakura."

"What do you want, Naruto?" Her contempt was audible.

"I was just wondering, if afterwards you'd like to go on a date with me?"

"No." There wasn't even a pause for thought.

Naruto slumped against the desk. The joy of his first day as a ninja was temporarily forgotten. His chin was resting on the desk, but then he turned his head to the side to see past Sakura and get a look at Sasuke. 'What is so great about him? There's nothing he can do that I can't. So what if he's popular and good looking and talented and has the best grades…' He stopped his thinking. He was only making himself feel worse.

Iruka finally entered the classroom and called for order. "Settle down everyone." He waited for quiet and began.

"First of all I'd like to say that I'm proud of every single one of you. As of today you are all ninjas. To get here you all faced difficult trails and hardships, but that's nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are only genin, first level ninjas, but it is the first step into the world. It is a path filled with adventure, but it is a path filled with hard work and hardships. I've taken you as far as I can; the rest is up to you. Your choices and decisions will determine your path from here on out. Now, all the genin will be grouped into three man squads. Each squad will be led by a jounin, an elite ninja."

A ripple of surprise coursed through the class at that news. 'A three man squad?'

Several of them were already planting their hopes to be with someone. Several of them were hoping to be with the same person. The class started to get restless and wanted him to get on with the team assignments.

"We want each squad to have a balance of strengths and abilities, so that's how we set them up." The class returned their attention to Iruka when he spoke the words, "I will now announce the teams." Naruto sat up, but slouched a little after the first few teams were called out.

"Team 7 will be: Naruto Uzumaki," the blond boy's attention was fully on Iruka now. "Ino Yamanaka," he slouched with a groan. He wanted to be on Sakura's team. All the other teams so far had only one kunoichi on them, "And Sasuke Uchiha. Team 8 is Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame."

Naruto couldn't believe his luck. Stuck with the stuck up bastard and number one fan girl. On top of this, his precious Sakura wasn't going to be with him. His head hit the desk.

"And finally Team Ten, Sakura Haruno, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akamichi."

Naruto had had enough. "Iruka-sensei, how could you put a great ninja like me on the same team as that guy?"

He wasn't the only one yelling.

"In your face forehead. Sasuke is on my team. You don't stand a chance now. You're stuck with the lazy ass and food boy." Ino started to giggle as her rival started to fume.

"Iruka, how could you put Ino with Sasuke and not me?"

"Enough!" The three of them went immediately silent. Sasuke had lost some of his control as his face twitched Naruto's comments and the volume of the two girls. "These teams were constructed by the Hokage himself. They were made so that they would be balanced. For instance, Sasuke is number one in the class, while you Naruto are at the bottom of the class."

Sasuke smirked at this.

"These teams were not made for girls to fawn over boys. They were made with the purpose that you complete missions and work as a team to do so. I just explained all of this to you. There will be no changes. Now moving on. After lunch you'll meet your new jounin teachers. Until then, class dismissed. Be sure to be here on time and good luck to you all."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto was walking along kicking up dust on the path. He was in no mood to talk and didn't bring a lunch so as far as he was concerned this was a wasted hour. He tried to find and talk to Sakura, but he was told to leave her alone. She said she wanted to have lunch her group and get to know them better. Needless to say the rejection only added to his depression. He though about doing the same with Ino, but he wasn't in the mood. He took a seat on the swing. This was supposed to be a good day for him too. As he pushed back and forth he thought about it and the smile returned to his face. 'I'm finally a ninja. I'm one step closer to being the hokage.'

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Ino called out again. "Sasuke!" She had wanted to have lunch with him and closer to him, but he had run off as soon as he could. She sighed and then called out again. 'Well I guess there's no need to rush things. After all we'll be on the same team for a long time.'

She found a bench and began to eat.

When it as close to the time to head back, Sasuke walked by. Ino saw him, leaped up and latched onto his arm. Sasuke turned to her and gave her a half lidded look of disdain.

"Sasuke where have you been? I was hoping we could have lunch together."

"Let go of me."

"But Sasuke…"

He paused and let the silence calm her down before he said, "Why?"

"Because I like you Sasuke and…"

"You're annoying."

Ino flinched. They words were so cold, but she steeled herself. She would not be deterred. She shook herself and got back on the horse. Sasuke managed to slip out of grip. Before she could get another word out, Sasuke spoke.

"What do you think of Naruto?"

"Huh, Naruto. Well, honestly, I think he's loud, rude, annoying and completely oblivious. He's always going after Sakura even though she would never give him the time of day. He's just so inept at everything and he doesn't even seem to care. He's got no parents so he's got no one to punish him and he just does whatever comes into his head. He's so selfish. He does what he wants and gets away with it. He's lucky like that I guess."

"You think Naruto's lucky. What would you know? You've never felt the pain of being alone. Never been punished. He's got no one, that's worse than any punishment a parent could think up. You can't imagine what its like to be all alone. Next time think before you open your mouth." He spoke with an icy tone with malice practically oozing from the words. He began to walk away. "Leave me be."

"But Sasuke…"

He turned his head to look at her and her hopes rose. "You're annoying."

He world seemed to crumble away. It hurt even more the second time she heard it. After he was out of sight she stopped and thought about it. Could she imagine being all alone? She tried, but it wouldn't come. She was the most popular girl in her class and always had people around her as far back as she could remember. No she didn't know anything about Naruto's life.

Looking up she saw the blond boy heading back towards the school from the swing out front. 'Well we are going to be on the same team from now on.' She walked over to him to try and start up a conversation.

"Hey Naruto," she called out.

He turned around. "Ino?"

"Hey I was just thinking. Since were going to be on the same team and all that maybe we should…" She stopped and looked at his face. It was contorted into what looked like a condescending sneer. "What? What's your problem?"

A second later Naruto grabbed his stomach with both hands, cried out and bolted in the other direction. Ino was left there stunned and blinking.

"What the hell was that?"

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

The last of the other teams had already left the classroom with their instructors. Naruto, Sasuke and Ino were still waiting for their teacher to show up. They were all silent; none of them had anything to say to each other. Sasuke had his hands clasped in front of his face brooding. Annoyed at being kept waiting for over an hour already. Ino was sitting next to her crush, but couldn't bring herself to talk to him. After their little confrontation she felt a little humiliated. Naruto was doing his best to contain his energy and found his legs to be bouncing up and down on the ball of his feet. He was seated about four seats away and two rows back from his teammates.

He had been the last to arrive from lunch, having been stuck in the bathroom. Ino confronted him when the teachers started coming.

"I'm sorry. It was my stomach; it felt really sick. It just hit me. I must have eaten some spoiled food."

She wasn't angry with him before, just completely baffled as to why he ran off. Now she got it. "It's fine. Just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong."

That had been a while ago now. Naruto looked up at the clock. Almost two hours. They had been sitting there for two hours doing nothing. They were told to be on time and their teacher couldn't extend them the same courtesy.

"Did we maybe miss him when the other teachers came in?" Ino asked.

"No."

She deflated at Sasuke's stoic answer.

"That's it. I've had it. If he can't be bothered to be on time then he's going to pay for it." He jumped up from his seat and ran down to the blackboard. He grabbed an eraser.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Ino stood up to try and see better.

"I'm going to teach him a lesson." He grabbed a chair and dragged it over to the door.

"Maybe you shouldn't Naruto. We could get in trouble. I'm not getting into trouble on my first day. Do you hear me?"

He didn't answer her and placed the eraser between the frame and the door. He then went and replaced the chair back where it was.

"Like a jounin, an elite ninja, would fall for such a simple trap anyway."

"Sasuke's right, Naruto. Just take it down."

Naruto made it back to his seat and was waiting eagerly for his trap to be sprung. As time went on, his eagerness slowly faded away. It was replaced with the previous contained energy and annoyance. After another half an hour the three of them heard footsteps in the hall. Naruto sat up and leaned forward to get a better look.

The door slid open and a head stuck itself through only to be bonked by the eraser. A small cloud of chalk accompanied the hit.

"Ha, ha. He actually fell for it."

"I'm sorry sensei, but I can't control him."

'He actually fell for that simple trick. Is he really a jounin?'

The man who had entered stared at them lazily with his single uncovered eye. He wore a mask covering the lower part of his face. His silver hair rose up and leaned over to one side.

"How can I put this? My first impression of you guys is…you're a bunch of idiots." Ino groaned and flopped forward on the desk, Naruto cried out and Sasuke squinted his eyes, but otherwise remained impassive. He was still unsure about the man. "Meet me on the roof in ten minutes."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Alright. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourselves," Kakashi spoke up after an interval of silence.

"Introduce ourselves. Like what are we supposed to say?" Ino asked him.

"Things you like, things you hate. Dreams for the future. Hobbies. Things like that."

"Why don't you talk about yourself first, before we go, so we can see how it's supposed to work." Naruto was sitting on his haunches, squinting his eyes at his sensei. Kakashi looked at him and couldn't help but think that he looked remarkably like a fox.

"Me. I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate; I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future…I never really thought about it. As for hobbies…I have lots of hobbies."

"Well that was pointless. All he really told us was his name," Ino laminated to her fellow blond. Naruto nodded in agreement. Sasuke continued to stare down the man.

"All right, your turn. You on the right, you first," he said in a lazy drawl.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant ramen in a cup, the ramen that Iruka-sensei got me at Ichiraku's stand. I hate the three minutes waiting after you pour the ramen into the cup. My hobby is comparing different types of ramen. And my dream is to be Hokage, so everyone will stop disrespecting me."

'Hmm. He grew up very interestingly.' Kakashi mused. "Okay, next."

"Um, I'm Ino Yamanaka. I like flowers, shopping and most of all Sasuke. I hate lazy, loud and annoying people. My hobby is, well… My dream is to a great kunoichi and to get a certain person."

'At her age, girls are more interested in those kinds of things than ninja training.' Kakashi looked to his last student. "And finally."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and there really isn't too much that I do like. I don't have any hobbies. I don't have a dream. It's more of an ambition, and I will make it a reality. I will restore my clan and kill a certain someone."

'And just like I thought.'

Both Naruto and Ino were giving him worried looks.

"Good. You're each unique and you all have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow."

Naruto saluted him. "What kind of mission is it?"

"It's a task the four of us will do together."

"What?"

"A survival exercise."

Naruto squinted at the man again. "Huh, a survival exercise?"

"I though we were going to have a real mission. We already did that sort of thing at the academy," Ino stated.

"This is not like your previous training." A glint flashed across Kakashi's exposed eye.

"What kind of training is it then?"

Kakashi began to chuckle.

"That a reasonable question. What's so funny?" Ino piped up. She tilted her head sideways now giving her sensei and odd look.

"If I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it." He paused and stopped his chuckling. "Of the twenty-seven graduates only nine will actually be accepted as genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and be sent back to the academy. So in other words this is a make it or break it pass/fail test. The chance that you'll fail is at least sixty-six percent."

Naruto's jaw dropped at this, his eyes went wide. Worried thoughts were now passing through his head. Sasuke simply gave his teacher another dark look. Ino's eye twitched with a look that clearly read, 'you have got to be kidding me.'

"See didn't I tell you you wouldn't like it."

"That's not right. We worked hard to get here. What was that graduation test for anyway?" Naruto started to whine.

"Oh that. That was just to select the candidates who might become genin. Or not."

"What?!"

"That's how it is. I decide whether you pass or fail." His voice turned serious. Kakashi started to lay down the law. The group went silent. "Be at the designated training spot at five am. And bring your ninja gear."

A determined look settled itself onto Naruto's face. Ino had an equally determined look on her face. Sasuke's expression didn't change.

Kakashi turned his back on them and flicked up two fingers. "That's it. You're dismissed. Oh and one more thing." He turned to face them with his single eye. "Tomorrow you better skip breakfast or you'll throw up."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

**AN:**This is my first fanfiction. It is a unique challenge to write with someone else's characters. I'll try and keep this short. I see fanfiction as an arena that I can use the improve my writing and story telling skills. I would appreciate any constructive criticisms.As for this chapter it may see retreading of old ground with a single change, but the effects will be seen starting with the next chapter. I skipped the Mizuki incident, because it is the exact same for this story.


	2. The Bell Test

Chapter 2 – The Bell Test

**Disclaimer:**I don't own Naruto.

**AN:** I realize now I probably should have waited and released these chapters as a pair. The first one was a bit subtle in the changes I made and if you weren't really looking would have missed them. This chapter combined with the last one should give an idea of how things will change over the course of the story.

I also want to say this. I am a very deliberate writer. I try to make subtle points. Sometime what seems a normal line will have multiple meanings, literally, figuratively, and/or thematically. This is just a heads up.

**Chapter 2 – The Bell Test**

The sun hadn't decided to present itself for the day as of yet. Instead only the hinting of his impending arrival were evident, with the sky changing from its deep indigo to the lighter shades of gray. There were no clouds in the sky and no dew on the grass. The birds were chirping somewhere in the distance as three tired figure dragged themselves into the clearing.

Out of the three of them only Sasuke seemed to be fully awake. Naruto was dragging his feet and Ino didn't seem as perky as she usually did. Her hair wasn't its silky self and her eyes didn't seem to stand out as much against her pale skin. The two of them sat down after a few minutes. Sasuke remained standing on the lookout for their sensei.

Some time later, a lot of time later, when the sky had changed into a more brilliant blue did the fourth person of their party arrive.

"Hey."

"You're late!" Both Naruto and Ino screamed.

"Yeah, sorry about that. You see a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way around."

"Grrrr," Ino was growling. "That pathetic excuse is the best you can come up with."

"Well since were running late, lets get started." He pulled out a clock and placed it on the stump he was standing next to. "The alarm is set for noon. Your task is to get these bells from me. Whoever fails to get a bell gets no lunch and tied to those posts, while I eat my lunch in front of you."

"So this is why he told us to skip breakfast," Naruto groaned.

Ino looked even worse off than he did. 'Breakfast, I skipped dinner. Now of all times that diet has bite me in the butt.'

Even Sasuke didn't looks so well. He grit his teeth and fought back the stomach contractions.

"But sensei, there are only two bells."

"Well that just means one of you will get tied to a log. The person who doesn't get one will have failed the mission." Three growling stomachs later, Kakashi continued. "It might be one or all three. Additionally if you fail, you will be sent back to the academy for further instruction." That struck a cord with all of them. They all began yelling and complaining. Kakashi waited for it to die down.

"If you expect to pass this test you have to come at me with the intent to kill. You can use whatever weapons or techniques in your arsenal."

"But sensei, isn't that dangerous?"

"Yeah after all you couldn't even dodge the chalk eraser." Naruto let out another laugh.

"Normally yes, but I doubt any of you will actually harm me." Kakashi had a smug smile plastered on his face. Though none of his students could see it, it seemed to piss off Naruto even more than being hungry.

"Why you! Fine." Naruto snatched a kunai from his bag and charged at Kakashi. He didn't make it more than two steps before his arm was behind him and the tip of the kunai was ghosting the nape of his neck.

Ino was slack jawed. 'I didn't see him move.'

'So this is a jonin...'

"What the hell?"

"Don't get hasty. I didn't say to start yet, but you did come at me with the intent to kill. Hmm, what do you know, I'm may be starting to like you guys." He let go of Naruto's arm and took a step back. "Now, begin."

Immediately his three students vanished into the surrounding brush. He waited a few second to give them a head start. 'Don't want to be too unfair.' He checked his surroundings covertly. 'At least they know how to hide themselves pretty well…'

His thought was interrupted by a yell. "Hey sensei. Lets do this fair and square, one on one."

'Two of them anyway.'

Naruto charged him, yelling a battle cry at the top of his lungs.

"Very well then." His voice remained calm and monotone. "Ninja art, lesson one. Taijutsu." He stuck his hand into his pocket to retrieve an object.

--

Ino was crouched behind a bush staring unbelievingly at her teammate. He had just halted his charge to see what Kakashi would pull out. Kakashi hadn't moved a step.

'How could he be so stupid? It's people like him that give us blonds a bad name.' Her fist clenched. 'Oh I will have words with him after this.'

She looked at the scene unfold before her and noticed Naruto get humiliated, as he failed to land even a single hit. Naruto charged again and Kakashi vanished only to reappear behind him with the first two fingers of each hand pressed together.

'That hand sign, he's going to destroy him," she thought. 'I've got to warn him, but if I do I'll give away my position. And there's not enough time to use that jutsu.'

A second later Kakashi roared out the name of the technique. "Hidden leaf village secret taijutsu master art: One thousand years of pain." Ino went from tense worrywart into eye twitching victim in that moment. Naruto crashed into the lake.

'You can't be serious sensei.'

Meanwhile, Sasuke was thinking along similar thoughts. 'He really is a jonin. He's just toying with him.'

Naruto pulled himself out of the water and began his attack anew.

Ino shifted her body into a better position to stealthy move to another location. 'If I can get him with my family jutsu then I can take one and give the other bell to Sasuke. He'll be so grateful to me and then… Well first things first. Got to get him when his guard is down or looking away. I need a line of sight.'

She moved to the next bush hoping to get a better angle. She paused to watch Naruto's progress as managed to grab him from behind. She was shocked. There were eight Narutos, but they were grabbing hold of him. Bushin couldn't do that. Her evaluation of him raised a notch, before immediately falling again, when he began fighting with himselves.

'What do you expect is you try to take him on directly? But this is a problem. Where is Kakashi-sensei?' Her eyes raked the field looking for him. Her eyes landed on Naruto again as he started to go for a shiny object in the grass. 'A bell? No, Naruto…' he was no suspended upside-down. 'It's a trap.'

--

Kakashi was now standing in front of her swinging teammate. "Think before you use a jutsu, or your opponent might just use it against you. And, if the bait is obvious, don't take it."

Ino saw her chance and readied the signature hand seal. "Thanks for the distraction Naruto." She targeted the man and let the jutsu fly.

--

Sasuke was in a tree and very well covered and had a great view to witness all of the events. All of Naruto's attacks had been useless and he would have chalked it up his stupidity, but that jutsu. He had no idea Naruto could use that sort of jutsu, especially since he failed the graduation exam. Sasuke knew his individual talents were better, but there had been eight of them and they failed. He replayed the events in his head. They had tried to dog pile him. The one on his leg was in the perfect position to grab a bell and he didn't take it. 'Should have kept your eye on the prize Naruto. I wont make that same mistake.'

Looking on he saw Kakashi's back to him as he lectured Ino. Now was his chance. He ripped two handfuls of shuriken and let them fly. They arced through the air and slammed right into his body throwing him to the side. A small flash of blue light and a puff of smoke later revealed a log with all of the shuriken imbedded in it.

'Damn, the replacement jutsu. He never does let down his guard.'

Naruto began yelling out. "What the hell? Sasuke please help me. Let me down from here."

Sasuke's eye twitched. 'Yeah right.'

"That was a nice try."

Sasuke felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He leapt out of his hiding place in the opposite direction, turning about face in midair. Kakashi landed in front of him about ten feet away.

--

Naruto's body was thrashing from side to side acting like little more than a rag doll. The blood was starting to rush to his head and his feet were getting tingly.

"I can't believe I missed. He was standing right there and I had to hit Naruto instead and now were both stuck here. Dammit!"

The sounds of battle could be heard form the other side of the trees. 'Naruto' reached into his pouch and pulled out a kunai and began slashing at the rope. He couldn't maintain the position to saw at it.

"Oh forget this." He shoved the kunai into his mouth and bit down on the handle. His finger interlaced into another hand sign and he yelled out, "Release."

Another flash of blue energy and Ino stood up a little wobbly. "Now where's Sasuke?" She ran off towards the sound of fighting.

--

Naruto came to and noticed him biting down on a kunai. He crossed his eyes to get a better look at it. 'Huh?' Then he looked at the rope and saw some of it frayed. "Yeah, good idea."

He did a midair crunch and held the position as he sawed the rope. A few seconds later he cut clean through and came crashing down to the forest floor, straight on his back.

"Ow." He groaned and rubbed his back trying to massage away the pain. Once he got to his feet, he went and headed for where it sounded like Sasuke was getting beat. One step later and he was bouncing in midair again. "Two traps! This isn't fair."

--

Ino was still stumbling around the training grounds. She couldn't hear them anymore and it was starting to scare her. 'Did Sasuke lose already? No Sasuke would not lose. But he is going against a jonin.'

At that moment she heard a groan. She looked over towards the noise and saw Sasuke lying in a pool of his own blood. His body was battered and broken. One of his legs was twisted at an odd angle. His clothing was ripped to reveal red and black skin. Several parts of his body had been charred.

"Ino, help me. It hurts so much." He could barely rasp out the words as his throat began to constrict.

Ino ran over to his side and knelt down. Her hands flew into her bag for the first aid kit she kept in there. She pulled it out and tried to get the gel to spread properly, but her hands were shaking much to hard. She took a deep breath and then another one. She then began to apply it to some of the more painful looking areas. He hissed at being touched.

"Calm down Sasuke. I wont let you die."

"And what makes you think I would?" a monotone voice whispered in her ear.

She looked on and saw the image of Sasuke waver in front of her and instead of his burnt skin she was touching a rock. The vines on it had already wrapped themselves around her arms. She pulled back only to find them constrict harder. The thorns began to bite into her. She looked behind her and watched Kakashi walk away, nose buried in his little orange book.

--

Sasuke had grabbed a hold of a stick with his tongue and brought it into his mouth. Not his proudest moment. He had it gripped in his teeth and was using it to dig himself out, scrape of dirt by scrape of dirt. He was fuming. That last jutsu had taken a lot out of him. His stomach started making noised again. It passed and he began his tedious work again. He was almost out of chakra.

--

Naruto heard a yell. He couldn't tell where it came from. He figured it must be Ino, because Sasuke defiantly wouldn't yell. He managed to cut himself down a second time. After falling again he decided to lie there and think. He was all alone on this test. Sasuke would never help him. Not that he would accept it. And Ino, if she ever got the bells she'd give one to Sasuke and leave him high and dry. She wouldn't help him either. He was stuck between a rock and a hard case. He wanted to pay Kakashi back before. That had been stupid. He should have just gotten a bell when he had the chance and then run away.

His stomach complained again. Next time I see him I'll grab him and get a bell. But how do I find him. He got up and began wondering around. Eventually he came upon the three posts and the stump with the clock on top of it. He glanced at it and noticed they had only twenty minutes left. He had lain there longer than he thought. Something else had caught his eye. They were sitting out in the open, completely unprotected. The lunches. He grinned to himself.

--

Ino was fuming. Not at Kakashi, the genjutsu or even herself. No, her ire was completely directed at the thorny vines somehow holding her to a rock in the ground. She had tried slipping her hands out gently, then working her gardening skills to maybe letting her go (it work on certain plants), and finally she had resorted to pleading with it as if it could hear her. She had enough. She surprised at how flexible she was. She twisted her head around and pulled a kunai out with her teeth and began hacking at the vines, swinging her head around like a mad woman.

'Die plant, Die!'

Her hair was in completely disarrayed with strands of it hanging all over the place. She ripped her hands out and was panting heavily. Her teeth ground against the handle of the kunai. She knew she was a mess and at this moment didn't care. Only in the back of her mind did the small thought linger. 'I hope Sasuke-kun doesn't see me like this.'

--

Naruto had sat down with the bento on his lap. "Ittekimasu."

"And what do you think you're doing?" a voice behind him asked.

Naruto turned around very wary at being caught by his sensei. "Well you see…"

"This is cheating."

"It was the only way I could find you," he cried out.

"Huh." At that moment a familiar sensation stuck him. Looking around he saw himself in a hold by another Naruto. The one in front of him jumped up.

"Shadow clone jutsu." He poured everything he had into it. It was the same amount of energy that produced his seven before. He was surprised when only one popped into existence. He brushed it aside and yelled, "Get him."

The two of them went into action to restrain his legs.

Kakashi looked about. There was no extra clone to switch with this time. There may have been less manpower with only one extra body to help him, but in this case it was an asset. Then he heard a jingle. The real Naruto had attached to his leg and held him down, but he wasn't going for the face like last time. His hand was reaching for his belt and the bells attached to it. He pulled his hip back violently and got this just out of his grasp. It gave him enough momentum to slam the clone on his back into the post. It poofed out of existence. With his arms free he made quick work of the last two. He hurled the real one away, because he once again got too close to the bells for comfort.

He made his way to where Naruto landed to find he was unconscious. Wary of another trap, he took his time to check his vitals.

'Kid surprised me too many times.' He was unconscious, chakra exhaustion. 'The throw just pushed him over the edge.'

--

Sasuke had got the rest of his neck uncovered and rocking back and forth loosened the dirt up enough that he could pull his arms up. With them free it was a trivial thing to drag himself free of his earthen prison. Standing up he dusted himself off.

Ino was by the lake. She dunked her head underwater one more time to get the dirt out it. She pulled the hair out of her eyes and set it back into its ponytail. She had already dealt with her wounds. She got to her feet and tried to think.

'I'll never get him to stand still like that before. I don't have any other techniques.' She heard footsteps behind her. She whipped around and saw Sasuke, dirty and bruised. She got into a fighting stance and he stopped in his tracks.

"Are you really Sasuke?" he asked. Her voice was a little higher in pitch than she would have liked.

"What kind of question is that?"

"Well than prove it."

He turned away from her and muttered, "You're annoying."

She sighed. 'It must really be him.' A wave of hurt then crossed her as she just realized what he said. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted as the alarm clock went off signaling the end of the survival test.

--

They were all gathered around the posts. Ino and Sasuke were standing at attention, while Kakashi glared at them. Naruto was passed out. His body was seated against one of the posts.

"Would someone please wake Naruto up? I want him to hear this."

Sasuke went over and nudged him with his foot. When that didn't do anything he bent over, removed his hands from his pockets and rapped him on top of the head, repeatedly.

"What? What?"

Sasuke returned to where he was standing before. Naruto looked around hazily.

"Well needless to say you all failed. And you managed to do it in such away that I don't know what to do. For the first time I don't know who to tie to the posts."

All three of them bowed their heads.

"Do none of you realize the purpose of this test?"

They all stared blankly at him.

"Teamwork. You are genin. I am a jonin. Did you really expect to take me on with your individual skills? If you had worked together you may have been able to get a bell."

"But sensei, there are only two bells and three of us. If we did work together then one of us would have been sent back to the academy," Ino protested.

"Exactly. The test was designed to pit you against one another and see if you could overcome that. Could one of you sacrifice yourself? That is what real missions are like. For example." He vanished and kneeled next to Naruto and placed a kunai to his throat. "Ino, kill Sasuke or Naruto dies."

"Wait, what?" Naruto was eyeing Kakashi, absolutely terrified.

"Kakashi-sensei…"

He lowered the kunai. "That is the kind of situation you may end up facing. The choice you may have to make. Could you do it to complete the mission? I'll tell you right now that it is a ninja's job to complete the mission no matter what. Those who don't follow the rules are trash. But even worse…" Ino and Sasuke looked up. "Those who abandon their friends are lower than trash."

"All of you tried to do the test on your own. Each of you tried to take me on individually. Let's review shall we. Naruto you charged in without thinking and without regard to your opponent or your teammates. Ino you did use Naruto's distraction to try and get me with you Shintenshin no jutsu, but you were an opportunist and didn't coordinate it with your fellow teammates. Sasuke got the same idea and you ended up screwing up each other's attacks. Then you go looking for Sasuke to help him when you didn't know where he was even though Naruto was right in front of you. You were even in him for crying out loud."

"Wait, what do you mean in me?"

"I'd wipe that smile off your face if I were you Sasuke. I may have started with them, but you were the worst of all. Ino specifically asked for your help. You were right there and could have cut Naruto down with a single throw. Additionally you might have had more time to try again if you had called out for help when trapped instead of trying to dig yourself out by yourself. The three of you couldn't coordinate anything, it was almost like a slapstick comedy they way you all behaved. Though I will say this. Only one of you is going back to the academy."

"Really?" Ino asked.

"Yes and it's Naruto."

Sasuke smirked and Ino looked confused.

'Why Naruto? I though he just said we were all horribly.'

"What? Why me?"

"Yes Naruto will be sent back to the academy. You two, on the other hand, should quit be ninja all together."

The three of them swear they could hear a funeral bell sounding their demise.

"What, why is he better than me?"

"Because out of the three of you, he is the only one with the capacity to learn." That silenced them. "I know you saw his first attempt, but you missed his second. He tried to eat the lunches while the exam was going on."

Sasuke and Ino glared at him.

"What it really was, was a cleaver bait tactic to lure me out. He got me into the same position as earlier and used an improved strategy so I couldn't use the replacement jutsu properly. And instead of hitting me, he went straight for the bells once he had me restrained. He didn't get one, but had even only one of you been helping him he would have got them."

Naruto grinned from ear to ear at the praise.

"He is still a screw up." The smile faded. "But at least he can learn from his mistakes."

"But sensei we can learn too. Isn't that what you're supposed to be doing? Teaching us?"

"Yes, but there are some things that can't be taught and are inherit in a person's personality."

"Please give us another chance sensei, we can do better." Ino was pleading now.

"I guess I could do that. After lunch well try this again and it will be ten times harder." They gulped. "Another thing. I still have to tie one of you to the post. I couldn't decide before, but after reviewing your performances out loud…"

Ino had a very morose expression on. She looked at the food and saw that none of it conformed to her diet. She sighed and took a bite anyway. She looked over to the boy tied to the center post.

Sasuke had his eyes closed and his lips pursed as he swallowed. He though he had been humiliated earlier by having to use his tongue to get out of the trap, but this topped it.

The ropes dug into his arms. He swallowed another bit of saliva. The smell of the food was getting to him even worse than the exhaustion. He opened his eyes and saw the two blonds eating their lunches. Ino was looking at him. A little later Naruto looked at him as well.

They had been specifically told not to feed him. That is was punishment for his actions. Naruto couldn't help, but feel sorry for him. He was the only one not allowed to eat and it sounded painful. Their sensei had left them alone for the moment. Naruto made his choice.

"Here take some." He held out his bento to Sasuke.

"Naruto. Kakashi told us not to."

"Yeah, well I've never been one to exactly follow the rules." He rubbed the back of his head with a grin on his face.

"I don't need your charity."

"Oh for crying out loud just take it. You're no good to us hungry and its got to be hurting by now." A whining noise from his stomach confirmed it.

Ino though about it and offered hers as well. "I'm sorry Sasuke that this had to happen. Let me help you. She picked up her chopsticks and held out a piece of sushi for him."

"Fine." He took the sushi and chewed it.

Suddenly the sky darkened and a bolt of lighting crashed across the sky. It curved and stuck down not too far away from them. Kakashi appeared from the light.

"And what do you think you're doing?" His voice was menacing and his eye had a crazed quality to it.

"Sasuke-kun is our teammate and were feeding him."

"After I specifically told you not to!"

"Yes!" Naruto stepped forward. "Damn right."

"I see. Is that how you all feel?"

They all nodded.

"And you're willing to deal with the consequences."

Again all three nodded, slightly more hesitantly.

"Fine. You all…pass." The last word was very anticlimactic compared with the rest of the exchange. Both Naruto and Ino face faulted.

"What!" they both yelled.

"You. Pass."

"But we disobeyed the rules."

"Yes, you did. For the sake of a friend. All the other teams before you failed because they followed my instruction and left their teammate to starve. I said that there are some things you can't teach. This is one of them. You either are that type of person or you aren't. The other teams I was given never stood a chance. Well since you all passed, I guess I better go inform the administration building. We'll meet here tomorrow for our first mission. Meet her at seven am. Don't be late."

"Yes! We passed! We passed! Hurray." Naruto was bouncing around the field.

Sasuke was smiling to himself at the other boy's antics. Ino was behind him cutting through the ropes. Sasuke rubbed his wrists once he was free.

"See you tomorrow," he said. He walked away heading home, shoulders slumped and his hands in his pockets.

Ino watch him go. "Yeah, see you tomorrow."


	3. D ranked

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**A/N: I wanted this out on Tuedsay, but then E3 disrupted my writing more than I thought it would.**

**Chapter 3 – D-ranked**

"Well I'm glad to see that you're all here."

"You're late!" Ino and Naruto yelled.

"Ah well you see…" Kakashi began.

"Save it. I can't believe you sensei. You are the one supposed to be setting an example for us. Three days in a row you've been late. This one is already bordering on hopeless." She pointed to her blond partner.

"Hey," Naruto objected.

Ino continued over him. "And you are just going to send him over the edge. You better shape up before I inform the Hokage of your actions. And reading that filth in front of us. Were twelve for crying out loud."

"Hmm. Did you say something?" Kakashi looked up from his orange book.

Fire sparked in Ino's eyes as they began to bore into him. Her hands clenched into fists ready to pound him with righteous female fury.

"Calm down Ino." Naruto raised his hands and patted her on the shoulder.

"Naruto."

"Yes?"

"Let go. Right now." He complied.

"Well if you're all ready I have our mission for today. Just to warn you that because you are new genin, you will be getting the lowest ranked missions."

"Ha, whatever they are, I'll complete them no problem. Believe it." Naruto grabbed with bicep for emphasis. Sasuke scoffed.

"I'm glad to hear that. We're needed on the other side of the village. If you would follow me." Kakashi turned around and stuck his nose back into the book.

Ino shot him an icy glare before turning her attention to Sasuke. "So Sasuke, how are you this morning?"

"Hn."

All conversation died at that point.

--

"Ok, we're here." Kakashi snapped his book closed. They were standing right outside a normal house. It was in the more residential parts of town. The house was made of concrete like most of the other buildings in Konoha. The windows were closed and it had a small, neatly clipped lawn out front. All in all it was very ordinary and that fact confused the genin greatly.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei, are you sure we're at the right place?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh yes, quite sure."

"So are we maybe delivering something? Something important that would only be entrusted to ninja of our caliber. Or maybe the person who lives here is going to give the details of the mission to us directly?" Naruto was barely containing his excitement as he went over the possibilities.

"Not quite. Our mission is…" he let it hang in the air as his three students leaned forward. "Gardening."

All three face faulted.

"Gardening! What type of mission is that?" Naruto yelled at Kakashi, finger pointing accusingly at the man.

"The lowest ranked kind. I thought I warned you earlier."

"Yes, you did sensei. But I was expecting, I don't know a mission that was more…ninjaey. I like gardening and all, but it doesn't seem like a ninja mission to me." Ino threw in her two cents.

"Well it doesn't matter what it may seem like. It is still a mission and must be completed." His three students seemed resigned to their fate. "If you will excuse me, I'll tell the owner we're here."

As he walked over and knocked on the door, the three genin were coming to terms with their assignment.

"Gardening. I didn't become a ninja to do this stupid stuff."

"You care to repeat that Naruto," Ino growled.

He looked at her and immediately tried to backpedal. "No, what I meant was...uh, gardening isn't stupid in itself, but as a mission it is a stupid idea. If the guy wanted his place weeded wouldn't he just call you or your family?"

"We sell flowers Naruto. We don't plant them." Ino had crossed her arms and was still staring him down.

"Ah well. Um. Ah, well why not call a real gardener? Someone who gets paid to do this."

"We are getting paid for this Naruto. That's how it works." Kakashi stopped in front of them. "There are plots in front of the house that need to be completely weeded before we can't plant and there is work to do in back of the house as well. Since you're well versed in this, Ino, I'll leave you in charge of the front of the house. Naruto you help her. Sasuke, you and I will work out back. The owner can show what she wants done there."

--

Kakashi walked in front of Sasuke thinking. His book was put away. He didn't think the owner would appreciate him reading it on her property anyway. His dividing them up in this manner wasn't as of the cuff as he made it seem to his students.

'Sasuke is a lone wolf. I'll have to curb that as soon as possible if I expect him to learn anything. I'll ease him into it by working with me. Naruto is too abrasive and Ino would be a distraction. Getting him to work with the others will be a challenge.' He took a look back at his two other students. 'I'll have to get the other two to work together first. They'll be the key to this team. I should be able to get them to work together. They don't have any preconceived notions, or at least none that are strong enough to cloud their judgment. I hate to think if I had a girl on this team like that. I'd never be able to get them to work together at all.'

--

Ino looked a little disappointed at Sasuke's retreating form until he disappeared around the side of the house. She turned to see her partner.

"All right. Since I'm in charge you'll do as I say. Do you understand me?"

"What? Why do I have to listen to you?"

"Because Kakashi-sensei said so." Ino crossed her arms again.

"So? I'm going to be the Hokage some day. Some stupid mission like this isn't going to stop me from my dream. You don't even need to worry I can do the whole thing on my own. I'll finish it no time." He was grinning like an idiot at her. He crossed his arms back at her in a sense of smug satisfaction.

Ino sighed and slapped her hand against her face. 'What did I do to deserve this?' A few moments later, she got an idea. 'Let's try a different approach.'

"Ok, great future Hokage." He voice was dripping with sarcasm. "How do you intend to weed the garden?"

"You just grab them and rip them out of the ground." Naruto looked at her a little warily as she started to sport an unnerving grin.

"And what do you do when they grow back?"

"Well I…wait, huh?"

"And do you know how to replant the flowers so they can grow best?"

"Well…"

"Face it Naruto, you don't know anything about this. I do. That's why Kakashi-sensei put me in charge. Now are you going to do as I say or what?" She sounded normal, but Naruto got the distinct impression he should agree.

"Yes, Ino-san." He saluted her.

She basked in her victory. Then pulled herself back to reality. "Cut the formality. Were on the same team and while I may be much more mature, I can't be that much older than you."

"No way are you older than me."

"Really? When's your birthday?"

"October 10th," he said proudly. Ino noted that he never said anything about himself any other way.

"Yeah, well mine's September 23rd, so I win."

"Hmph, well your not more mature than me." He stuck out his lower lip and pouted.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever gave you that idea?"

Now Naruto was the one with the evil grin on his face. He formed his hands into a hand seal and whispered the name of his jutsu. A puff of smoke later and there were now two longhaired blonds standing in front of the house.

She mimed leaping in the air and grabbing hold of something. "Oh Sasuke, do you want to go out? I'm your biggest fan even though you say I'm annoying and tell me you want to be left alone. I think your utter disregard for my feelings is so amazingly cool. I want your babies."

"Naruto." She was building up her fury again.

Naruto, meanwhile, dispelled the jutsu and became his former self. "What? Prove me wrong."

"Well…" Ino was about to shoot back, but her mind came up blank. "I'm not going to dignify that with a response."

"You got nothing."

"Shut up. Just do as I say and get to work!"

"Yeah, yeah." He walked over to the plot, kneeled down and began grabbing at the stems.

Ino took her time to calm down. Once she was in a state to work again she walked over beside him and began pulling weeds as well. She showed him the proper way to pull them by digging into the roots. She also went over what to pull and what to leave in the soil. After a couple of minutes went by Naruto spoke up.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead. As long as it isn't stupid." Ino remained concentrated on her work.

"I thought you only cared about your looks."

"And?" Ino's eye twitched.

"Why aren't you complaining about getting your hands dirty? All the other girls in our class seemed to hate it."

Ino paused and looked up. She stared into space for a second and then looked at Naruto. He was looking back at her waiting for an answer.

"I said not to ask a stupid question. Why on earth would you need to know that?" Ino was about to shout another retort, but then did something she didn't often do. She thought about her answer. She was going to yell at him for asking such a stupid question. It seemed stupid on the surface, but when she thought about what answer to give, it actually seemed reasonable.

"Sorry."

"Naruto, shut up." He did. "I should be apologizing."

Naruto blinked, several times. "What?"

"It's not that stupid a question. Answer is, well, I don't know. I just like gardening. I never real thought about it as getting dirty."

Naruto closed his eyes, tilted his head to the side and nodded his head. It made sense to him. To Ino it made him look like something, but she couldn't put his finger on it. He got back to pulling weeds and dumping them into the buckets left for them.

"Can I ask another question?"

"You just did."

"What? No I didn't."

She sighed. "Never mind, go ahead." She realized it was better to go along with some of it to save herself the exasperation.

"Well, I'm being totally serious with this question. I just want you to know that." He figured this preparation might help him avoid getting hit.

"Okay. Get on with it."

"Why do you and all the other girls like Sasuke so much?"

Ino was about to hit him for it, but then upon looking at him, realized he was being completely sincere. In fact he seemed eager to find out, like he wanted to take notes or something.

"Because, he's so cool. He's good looking and dreamy and so suave. He has the aura about him. He was the best in our class, rookie of the year. What girl wouldn't want him?" Her eyes seemed to glaze over as she clasped her hands together. Talking about her Sasuke-kun was utterly divine to her.

"Hey I'm cool too."

Ino leveled her eyes at him. "No, you are not. You're loud, obnoxious, dead last in the class, arrogant and have absolutely atrocious taste in clothing. You're clumsy and wouldn't know cool if it hit you on the head. You're the exact opposite of Sasuke."

They were silent after that. They kept working on the plot. A few minutes went by before Naruto spoke again.

"I get started on the next one." He got up and walked away keeping his back to her. He knelt over and got to work. Ino watched him move before going back to work.

Naruto grit his teeth even harder. "I will not let them fall. Especially not to some stupid Sasuke fan girl. Good looking, good grades, dreamy. Whatever the hell that means? Like that's everything. Damn bastard gets everything. Respect, praise, Sakura-chan."

A tear fell from his eye. He wiped it away with his sleeve and then moved it to his forehead to make it look like he was wiping away some sweat, just in case Ino happened to look over. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction to know the pain she had inflicted.

He had heard it all before. Even from Sakura, but it was just thoughtless yelling or name calling. There was never the bite like how Ino just said it all. She thought about it. She carefully though about her answer and it hurt, like she purposefully wanted to twist the knife in deeper.

"Stupid, stupid." He began muttering to himself. He was starting to pull out the weeds even harder than before.

--

Ino finished with the first plot. She looked over at Naruto to see him ripping up the weeds at an unbelievable rate. She took her bucket and dumped it in the compost heap on the side of the house. She was able to catch a glimpse of Sasuke, also pulling weeds. She returned to the front yard. Naruto was still at it.

'Well at least he's better than that lazy ass Shikamaru. Naruto actually puts effort into what he does. If he wasn't such an idiot he might be a great ninja one day.' Her face contorted into a look of confusion as she remembered what he said two days ago.

"Hey, Naruto," she called out.

Naruto stiffened. He swallowed his saliva, before daring to speak up. "Yeah."

"Back at the introductions. You said you wanted to be Hokage so people would stop disrespecting you."

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Is that it? You're whole reason."

"What are you trying to say Ino?" His tone was getting harsher. "Is my dream now a problem to you?"

"No, it's just. People don't disrespect you because you're weak. It's your attitude that's the problem."

Naruto stood up and looked at her. "What do you mean? What's wrong with my attitude, huh?"

Ino just looked at him, hoping the irony would sink in. It didn't. She gave up and went on anyway.

"I don't disrespect Shikamaru cause he was near the bottom of the class. I do it because he's a lazy bastard. If you want people to stop calling you loud, obnoxious and annoying, then just stop. Why do you always annoy people with your pranks and go around yelling all the time?"

"I don't have to answer that."

"Hey I answered two question. It's only fair I get at least one."

"I don't want to answer."

"Fine. Be a stubborn jack ass." She marched up to him and knelt down to help with the plot. "At the very least get rid of that atrocious outfit."

"What's wrong with my outfit?"

"Besides it being ugly and the fact I'll be forced to look at it every day."

"Yes."

"It's dangerous and is going to get us killed," she said deadly serious.

"What does it matter what clothes I wear?"

"Because we're ninja. If we had a mission in a neon light factory that is the exact outfit you'd want to wear. But outdoors." She let the words hang in the air. "You'll be found in a minute even with large dense trees that let no sunlight down."

"And purple is any better?" Naruto shot back.

"It's a dark color. Dark colors are fine. They blend in better," Ino protested.

Naruto eyed her suspiciously. He had the sneaking suspicion that he had her. "Sure no one can see purple on green."

"At night or even in the evening, I'd be able to hide better than you," she shot back. She looked down at her outfit. Now that she had brought it up it wasn't exactly the best ninja outfit in the world. It wasn't the worst either. It was comfortable and showed off her body perfectly. "I'll make a deal with you. I'll change my outfit, if you change yours."

"No deal."

"Why not? That's fair isn't it?"

"I'm not falling for it.""

"Falling for what?" she asked incredulously.

"You're just trying to get me to go shopping you with so you can force me to pay for everything, because I'm the boy. Well I'm not falling for it."

"What make you think I'd want **you** to pay for me?" A second later her eyes widened and she added. "And what makes you think I'd do that in the first place?"

"Because I do it all the time to Iruka-sensei!" he screamed back at the top of his lungs.

Silence descended on the two of them. They simply stared at each other. Both of them were blushing slightly. Ino from her earlier slip and Naruto from what he just screamed.

A small noise was heard. It came from Ino. She tried to hold it back, but failed as another chuckle escaped her lips. She gave up and just laughed. Naruto soon joined her.

A small cough caught their attention. "Is everything all right here? I heard yelling." Kakashi was standing in the middle of the yard looking at them.

"Yes, sensei. Everything's fine," Ino managed to gasp out before she started laughing again.

Kakashi looked at Naruto. The boy nodded in agreement. Kakashi then walked back around feeling as if he'd just been pranked, but wasn't entirely sure.

--

They finished up without major incident. Kakashi didn't count Naruto having to dive on the dirt road to catch a potted plat he accidentally dropped a major incident, even though it cut his face and hands up pretty bad. He told them to go get cleaned up and to meet him at the training grounds at the same time the next day for another mission.

Sasuke was the first to disappear. Ino looked around for him, but realized he was gone and slumped. She headed off towards her family's flower shop. Kakashi was about to walk off when he noticed Naruto wasn't moving. It looked like he wanted to ask a question.

"Is there something you wanted Naruto?"

The boy looked up and paused. He finally said, "No sensei. See you tomorrow." Then he ran off.

Kakashi sighed. This was going to be a very long job.

--

The next morning he was running late again. So late in fact that he didn't go to pick up a mission before he met his team. He figured they could go together. At least he wouldn't be the one getting yelled at for the quality of the mission.

"You're late!" Ino and Naruto screamed at him.

He sighed. "Well you're all here. Well come on. We have to go pick up a mission from the administration building."

"No."

Kakashi looked at them curiously. Both Naruto and Ino were standing their ground. Kakashi was rather surprised at them, well at Ino anyway. She came from a ninja family; she should understand what was expected. Even Sasuke looked surprised at their defiance and he had more than an arched eyebrow to prove it.

'Naruto, sure, he's built that way. But Ino. What are those two up to?' Sasuke asked himself. They had been arguing quietly to each other for a while when they first met up and then remained in silence. At the time he'd been appreciative of it. 'What are those two planning?'

"Excuse me. And why may I ask not?"

"A bet," Naruto simply stated.

Kakashi stared at him. "Go on."

"A bet between Ino and me. We need you to supervise."

Kakashi was completely lost now. The only bet between a boy and a girl he had ever encountered before was in issue two of the Icha Icha series. He kept his face stoic. He didn't want to ruin the mood.

"Maybe it would be best to start from the beginning."

Ino spoke up. "Naruto and I are going to hide in the forest. We want to Sasuke to count to…" She looked at Naruto.

"Two hundred?"

"Yeah that sounds good. To two hundred and then come looking for us. Whoever he finds first looses. No weapons, no ninjutsu, just stealth. Got that Naruto."

"Yeah, yeah."

"That means no henges either."

"Yeah, yeah."

"That's what we need you for. To make sure he doesn't cheat," Ino explained.

"Hey and what about you? Kakashi-sensei keep an eye on her too."

"So, you're expecting me to play hide and seek with you two? And I'm it?" Sasuke was somewhat insulted. This was beneath him. They were ninja and they wanted to play a kids game.

"Ok."

Sasuke snapped his head around to Kakashi. "What?"

"If they want to do it, its fine with me. We don't have a mission yet, so we aren't keeping anybody waiting."

"But this is a child's game."

"If it makes you feel any better, just think of it as stealth training."

Sasuke relented. "So what do I have to do catch them?"

"No. You just have to find us and get make sure its one of us. A clear line of sight."

"But you have to tell Kakashi-sensei. We won't stop hiding until he tells us to come out."

"Alright then." Kakashi pulled out his book. "Sasuke, cover your ears, close your eyes and begin to count."

Sasuke complied. Naruto and Ino bolted for the tree line. Once under the cover of the leaves they split into different directions. They had a little over three minutes to hide.

--

Kakashi watched them run off as his other student cut off his senses. He had more than a suspicion that this had to do with the yelling he heard yesterday. He couldn't make out what was said, but it didn't sound good. In fact it sounded like they were about to kill each other. Two of his students dead on his first week wouldn't have gone over well. But when he had arrived he found them laughing their heads off. He had been worried for their sanity. As a matter of fact, he was still worried.

--

Sasuke began wandering through the woods. He wasn't running; he was taking his time peering around bushes and occasionally looking up into the trees. He had nothing to be worried about, they were not allowed to do anything but hide; they couldn't attack him. He strode purposefully through the tree line and some of the smaller clearings.

'This shouldn't take long. After all how hard can it be to find two loudmouthed blonds? One of which wears orange and can't stay still for long. Then we can get on to real training.' Sasuke smirked. He was not only confident in his abilities, but the of his teammates'. It would explain why an hour later he was fuming.

He stopped taking his time and got into the trees to hide himself. Mentally he slapped himself when it came to him.

He had asked himself why he couldn't find them. Then he reasoned they could be in another section of the training field, so he went to the other side. After a few trips like this all over the place it dawned on him. When they saw him coming they would move, so they were never in the same place. Sasuke realized his arrogance had been used against him.

'I thought this was a game of hide and seek. But you can change your hiding place in this exercise. The point is hide, the point is not to get caught.' The learning experience didn't stop him from fuming. He was angry at his teammates for avoiding him, his sensei for agreeing to this stupid exercise, but mostly at himself for failing. 'What good are you Sasuke if you cant even find the idiot and the blond? Get it together or you'll never get him.'

Once he was in the trees and moving with all his stealth he felt better. He was getting confident again that he could find them and win. Now they'd have to find him and run away before he found them. And he knew that wasn't going to happen.

His confidence was again lacking when after half an hour he still couldn't find either of them. He was moving a lot slower than before and being a lot more careful.

'They must be on the other side of the training field, but it will take me forever to get over there. There must be a quick way to do it.' He stopped, taking his time to plot. He didn't know any genjutsus, though he wasn't sure if he was allowed to use them. 'They said no ninjutsu and technically it wasn't, but that was for Naruto and Ino wasn't it?'

Finally he got an idea. He could just henge into Kakashi and call them out saying he caught the other one. 'It's not exactly fair, but as long as I get them.' He formed a seal and whispered, "transform."

He turned into an excellent replica of Kakashi, orange book included. He jumped down to the forest floor and made it two steps before a voice called out to him.

"That's cheating Sasuke."

Sasuke turned to see Kakashi eyeing him.

"Does it matter? As long as I find them. In the field this is a perfectly acceptable tactic."

"Yes it is. This isn't the field. And the point of this wasn't if you found them or how long it takes, though I will admit, it is showing me something we will have to work on with you."

"So what is it?" Sasuke interrupted.

"Sasuke, not everything is about you. This test has nothing to do whether or not you find them. I'm pretty sure both Ino and Naruto," he put emphasis on the latter's name, "expect you to find them. They want to know whom you'd find first. This is their test. Not yours."

Sasuke glared at him. Kakashi found it to be an odd experience to be glared at by oneself. A few seconds went by before Sasuke complied and dropped the henge.

--

He sprinted across the open field in the middle of the training grounds. As he was doing this he caught a break. He caught a flash of orange. His head snapped in that direction. He could in fact see a hint of orange behind one of the trees. He had him. All he had to do was get close enough to confirm. He would confirm it right in Naruto's face.

His grin disappeared when he saw Naruto's jacket and only Naruto's jacket hanging by the hem off a low tree branch.

'He ditched it as a decoy. When did he get so smart?'

--

Ino watched Sasuke nearly lose his temper from her spot only about thirty feet away. She was holding her breath, trying to lie absolutely still. She was under a bush pressed flat against the dirt. She had managed to find the perfect spot and hadn't moved in almost an hour. Her legs were getting a little stiff, but it would be worth it. Her eyes widened as she saw Sasuke march right towards her.

"Oh Kami-sama. Did he see me? Am I going to lose?'

Sasuke jumped into the trees about ten feet from her position. She waited and heard nothing. She released the breath she'd been holding.

"Got you!"

"Eeep."

--

Sasuke dragged his reluctant teammate out from under the brush. A little rougher than may have necessary. The blond was not at all happy.

At that moment Kakashi showed up right behind Sasuke. "You see you could do it on your own. Ok, you can come out. It's over."

Nearby some foliage rustled. A grunt of effort later and a figure jumped up.

"Here I am Sasuke-kun!" Ino had the biggest grin on her face that any of them had ever seen.

"Just don't say it," Naruto grumbled as he propped himself up with his elbows. "Just, please, don't say it."

"I win, Naruto," she practically sang. "I win, I win, I win."

"You got lucky. Right Sasuke. You could have found her if you wanted to."

"You got rid of your jacket," he held it up. Naruto grabbed it and put it back on. "But your pants are still orange. It was a dead giveaway."

Naruto began grumbling to himself. His lower lip was pushed out.

"Well, I think it's time we go get ourselves a mission."

--

Team 7 spent the rest of the day ripping out a broken down fence and nailing up a new one. Once the task was done, Kakashi dismissed them and told them to meet up at same place and time.

"Oh and you two." Naruto and Ino stopped in their tracks. "Don't hesitate to come up with a new bet. It was very entertaining, almost as good as Icha Icha."

Both genin had the decency to blush.

'I can't believe I did that. Naruto brings the worst out of me.'

'Why do I get the feeling there's more to that, pervert?'

Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Well come on, you lost."

"No. Sasuke hates me. He wasn't even looking for you."

"Is the great Naruto Uzumaki going back on his word?" Ino's voice dripping with the sarcasm that seemed to work so well on him.

He swung his leg and kicked up a small cloud of dust. "No."

--

The next day Sasuke found himself alone with Ino at the designated time. For the first time he sat down. He couldn't believe that Kakashi would be on time today. It made him wonder why he himself showed up on time at all. Ino looked around expectantly, but when she only saw Sasuke she squealed and sat down next to him.

He was sitting with his legs crossed and his hands in his lap. He was wearing his usual attire and his usual bored expression.

"Hi Sasuke."

"Hn."

"Nice morning, isn't it?"

"Hn."

She was in planning mode once again. Several times she glanced over to the dark haired boy. He kept his gaze straight ahead. It never wavered, even when she had tried to start a conversation. A small smile crossed her face. She decided to wait a little.

Ten more minutes passed and neither Kakashi nor Naruto were in sight. Ino stood up and walked forward a few steps. Sasuke glanced over out of the corner of his eye when he noticed the movement. He returned his gaze forward only to find Ino was directly in the center of his vision. He arms were up as her hand fiddled with her ponytail. She pulled out the hair tie and let her pale golden locks flow down. A small gust of wind came by and blew it slightly to the side. The early sun's rays were caught between her golden locks.

She put the hair tie around her wrist and turned her back to Sasuke. Her hair fluttered around with her body. Then suddenly she quickly bent forward and gathered up her hair. She pulled the tie back on and pulled her body back up. She began to settle her hair when she turned back around. Sasuke had his fingers pressed together in front of his face. He was adorned with an impassive expression, eyes looking into the distance.

She retained her sunny disposition despite her inner turmoil. 'How on earth could that not affect him?'

"We're going to be waiting a while I guess. Again. What do you think Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"We're going to have a long day in front of us. Might as well get some stretching done."

She began by pulling on her fingers to stretch the muscles in her lower arms. Then she put one arm behind her head and pushing down on her elbow with the other to stretch her upper arm muscles. After she felt less of a burn from it she repeated the process with the other arm. After that she placed her hands on her hip and arced her back. An almost inaudible crack sounded as her spine realigned. She bounced her upper body in the arced position to loose up her lower back. She spread her legs a little farther and leaned down slowly. Her calf muscles started the strain as they were stretched. She kept her head up, like she was taught and sank lower and lower into the stretch.

Sasuke didn't move. If Ino didn't know any better she'd think he'd got away and left a replica in his place. However, it was breathing.

Ino pulled herself up. She flicked up her leg up behind her and caught it with her hand. She pulled her foot towards her back and leaned forward, keeping her balance. Once again she repeated with the other leg. She then sat down right where she was. She kept on leg straight out and bent one in like a triangle, putting the bottom of her foot against her thigh, and leaned forward. Once she was satisfied with it she repeated with the other side. Once done with that she looked at Sasuke.

'Dammit! I'm running out of stretches. How can he not find my beauty enticing? I'm doing all of this right in front of him. He should be drooling by now.'

After a few more over exaggerated stretches she plopped herself down a few feet from Sasuke. She felt much worse at being ignored like that. 'At least it wasn't a total loss,' she thought as new energy coursed through her system and her muscles felt much more agreeable to movement.

Another ten minutes passed when they heard a poof behind them.

"Hey guys. Hope I haven't been keeping you long."

Ino sprang up and yelled her usual greeting at him. She noticed there was no echo to her words this time. Then she noticed Naruto still hadn't arrived.

"Where is Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Idiot never showed up. Probably did the smart thing and slept in thinking he'd beat you here," Sasuke said taking a pot shot at Kakashi.

"Hmm." Kakashi extended his senses into the surrounding area. "Naruto, if you don't mind, come here and join us."

"No." The blonde's voice carried from the tree line.

"Please come out Naruto."

"I don't wanna," the boy whined invisible from view.

Ino turned towards where the voice was coming from and yelled, "Naruto, get your butt out here right now!"

There was a little grumbling before the no longer hyperactive blond came out of hiding. The first thing both Kakashi and Sasuke noticed was his state of dress. The orange jumpsuit was nowhere in sight. In fact the color orange seemed to be very lacking on Naruto. It only existed in the small spiral design on each of his shoulders and those seemed to be carefully painted on. The shirt was a black with the sleeves coming to just below his elbows and the pants were deep forest green cargos. The shirt was tighter against his chest than his old coat had been and a black ninja belt held up the slightly baggy cargo pants where two equipment pouches were hanging.

There was silence between the four of them for a long while. Naruto didn't take a single step towards them and had his eyes cast at the ground. If he had wanted to he could have blended into the background easily. Kakashi decided to get them out of their frozen state of shock.

"I take it this is you're doing Ino."

--

"Is the great Naruto Uzumaki going back on his word?" Ino's voice dripping with the sarcasm that seemed to work so well on him.

He kicked up a small cloud of dust. "No."

"Well then come on." Ino grabbed his hand and pulled him down the street towards the shopping district. Naruto was feeling very awkward with Ino's hand clasped in his. Minutes later they found themselves in a sparsely populated area. The day was nearing its end and the stores would soon be closing. They hurried to the first store they passed. Ino made it to the door before Naruto pulled back.

"What is it now?"

"Umm, Ino. I can't afford this place."

Ino looked at him and then looked at the sign above the store. She realized this was a store she shopped at very occasionally. The goods were excellent, superb in fact, but you had to pay the price. The clothes were also defiantly not made for everyday wear, especially if one was a ninja.

Without a word she moved away from the door and pulled him to the next clothing store. She had just gone for the first place that sold clothes not realizing what it was. She wasn't going to admit that to Naruto though. She may have won the bet, but she didn't want to be seen hanging out with the blond, especially not clothes shopping. Not if she could help it.

"Do I have to keep dragging you or can you walk on your own?"

"I can walk. I can walk." She let go of his hand. He followed her to another store. He recognized it. The owner didn't like him here. The few times that he had come by he was refused service and told to leave. Though a few of those times might have been because he pelted the storefront with eggs.

He could handle it on his own, but the last thing he wanted to have happen was having anyone else see it, let alone a teammate he'd have to see everyday, even if it was Ino. His excuse had worked before he only hoped it would work again.

"Um Ino. I can't really afford this place either."

She rounded on him. The store wasn't fancy, it had fair prices and she knew the owner personally. "What do you mean? You did bring your wallet, didn't you?"

"Yeah, its just," he paused looking both ways looking for the metaphorical escape plan. His brain was frantically seeking an excuse. To Ino it looked like he was hiding something.

"Just what?"

"I have to eat." It was the first thing that popped out of his mouth. His brain hadn't come up with anything plausible and this was the best his mouth could do in its stead.

She leveled her eyes at him. 'What the hell does that mean? Is he hungry? Well I am certainly not going to dinner with him. Wait, isn't he an orphan? Oh, damn he has to feed himself and probably pay rent too.' She bit her lip as her though process came to its conclusion. A small wave of guilt washed over her. She looked around and figured out what to do.

"Come on." She pulled him away from the store and headed down the street before taking a right down a smaller side road. She found what she was looking for. A out of the way thrift shop, a place she had never gone inside herself but knew of; she made it her business to know all the stores in Konoha. "This is the cheapest place I know. We're going in here."

She didn't give a chance to argue as she dragged him through the door. It was a little dark and needed a new set of light bulbs. There were shelves and baskets everywhere, overflowing with clothes. They didn't see a proprietor; so Ino just got to work. An hour later Naruto had two copies of the same outfit. They had been lucky to find duplicates of the same items that were still in good condition that fit. Naruto wanted out of there at that point, but Ino insisted on finding more.

"What would you do when these were in the laundry and you had to go out?"

He made the mistake of responding. He didn't know what rhetorical questions were. "I'd wear my jumpsuit."

She started on him again. Complaining, wishing he had won and saying that he was wasting her precious time that she could have been spending with her Sasuke-kun.

They compromised on one last outfit for normal everyday, non-ninja/D-ranked wear. Then they found themselves at the register. The man behind the counter gave a quizzical look at the two blonds before ringing them up. Naruto pulled out his wallet.

"What on earth is that?"

"It's my wallet, Gama-chan."

"You named your wallet?"

He nodded. He opened it up and Ino's eyes bugged out. 'Can't afford it my ass. What the hell? They guy's freaking loaded.'

He paid for the purchases and grabbed the bags. They walked out together. Once back on the main road, Naruto headed in the direction of his house, but Ino stopped him.

"Remember, you better be dressed properly tomorrow."

Naruto grumbled out an agreement. They walked away in different directions in silence. For some reason Ino didn't feel good about winning the bet. She honestly wished he had won and given her an excuse to get a new outfit, maybe one that would have gotten Sasuke's attention.

'No, he'd think it was unfair and I'd never hear the end of it.'

She looked over her shoulder, but Naruto was already out of sight. To her, he had looked depressed.

--

To his entire team he looked depressed.

"Yeah, this was what happened if he got caught. I told him neon orange would get himself caught or killed on of these days."

"Humph." Naruto was indignant. Just four days ago he was on top of the world, having just become a genin. Yet, everyday since then seemed to have sucked it out of him. Sasuke wasn't helping any either.

"At least he looks like a ninja if nothing else."

"What was that bastard?" Naruto was practically growling at the other boy.

Kakashi didn't want to admit it in front of the blond, but he was on Ino's side on this one. It would help some when they actually went out on a C-ranked mission. He looked the boy over and shook his head. 'It seems in his case the clothes make the man. Bright colors for happy and for depressed…this.'

"Well come on you three. It's time we go get another mission."

"Um, Kakashi."

"Yes Naruto." He was beginning to get a little exasperated with him.

"Couldn't we just stay here and train for today?"

Kakashi eyed him. "And if I said no and insisted on taking a mission."

Naruto looked down and bit his lip. He was beginning to fidget. "Would it be that bad if we just trained?"

"Do you think my sense of style is that bad?" Ino gave him a look daring him to insult her. Before he had a chance Kakashi spoke up.

"I think this is an excellent idea." His voice was bright and cheery. All three students snapped their gaze towards him. "Given Naruto's new clothes, we should celebrate with a reenactment of yesterday's exercise. Ino, Naruto into the woods now."

They both disappeared. "Sasuke, close your eyes and count to two hundred."

"The idiot changes his clothes and you want to play hide and seek again."

"Oh no. I'll be reading. You'll be the one playing. See if you can find them faster than last time; I'm almost finished with this volume."

Sasuke's eye twitched. 'I knew it. This team is holding me back. I'll find them in no time.'

--

It was the end of the day for Team 7.

Despite Sasuke's declaration to himself and Kakashi's wishes it had taken him almost three times as long to find them. Unlike last time he went specifically went hunting for Naruto, ignoring any signs of Ino. He blamed him and wanted to beat it out of him. During his search he cooled off and then reheated his anger this time directed at himself. Eventually he found Ino and pulled her out of a tree.

Kakashi had been watching ever since hour two began. His book neatly tucked away in his satchel. He figured it was Ino's turn and they repeated the process. Another few hours went by before Ino latched on to Sasuke. She squealed as she held on to his arm.

Kakashi ordered Naruto to do the search this time. He agreed, somewhat reluctantly. Unlike his two teammates he wasn't hunting specifically for either of them. At this point he didn't like either of them. His search proved fruitless as Kakashi called it a day and with Naruto failing to find anybody. He walked to Ichikaru's not smiling.

On his way to the tower to submit his daily report he reviewed.

Naruto hated losing and he seemed to take it personally that he couldn't find anyone. Though he didn't seem to take into account that he was the only one not caught. Ino was ditsy and he was really unsure about her abilities or commitment. Sasuke was getting what he needed, a dose of reality and a little bit of humility. Unfortunately he wasn't learning anything from it. Overall he was grateful for the bet yesterday. It meant he didn't have to work too hard. The game was almost entirely self-contained and his participation only required him to tell the person sill hiding they'd won. And in the end it would help with stealth tactics. Skills that weren't as prominent in the curriculum anymore. He thought about it. A little variation over time might be beneficial.

--

Over the next few days he repeated the exercise. Naruto seemed grateful every time he didn't have to go into the village dressed as he was. Sasuke was irritated every time. No matter how much he tried to convince himself it was helping he still saw it as a kid's game not worthy of real ninja. Ino seemed fine with it at first, but was quickly getting tired of it. Both Ino and Sasuke were especially becoming annoyed when neither of them seemed to be able find Naruto when it was their turn. Kakashi thought the first day was a fluke, but the whiskered, loud-mouthed blond seemed to have a knack for disappearing when he didn't want to be found. Everyone was irritated when it was Naruto's turn. For all his apparent skill at hiding, he was hopeless at actually finding someone. It was at the point where Kakashi was wondering if his participation in this game was actually necessary.

They still went on missions. D-ranked missions, always D-ranked missions. Painting, grocery shopping, plowing, litter cleaning and twice cat chasing. They didn't seem to understand why other teams found it so difficult, they found the cat pretty easy both times and it never went wild or attacked them.

Two weeks after becoming a team, Kakashi decided to introduce one of his variations on the game. This time both Ino and Sasuke would hunt for Naruto together. Ino and Sasuke would hunt for Naruto together. It took a while, but they finally managed to track and pin him down. It was early enough that they had time to take on another D-ranked mission. Once again it was gardening.

--

Naruto had two kunai out as he slashed vigorously at the hedge, cutting off the excess leaves and branches. Ino was being more delicate on her assigned hedge. Several times she had to reprimand the blond for getting to exuberant and warn him from slashing away too much.

It was easy enough work and despite that fact the hedge went around the whole property they were soon done.

"Good job everybody. We'll meet at the same time tomorrow at the training field." His team gave him stares that clearly told him "yeah right." He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, do you want to go do something? We could take a walk around the village. Wouldn't that be nice?" Ino jumped towards him and slipped her arms around his. She snuggled in close as she spoke.

Sasuke didn't even look at her as he tried to shrug her off. It took a vast amount of effort and his entire arm, but he was free and walking away without even looking at her. Hs hands were now stuffed in his pockets. He only got a few steps further away when he found his path was blocked.

In front of him was a shapely blond wearing an orange skirt and tight back tank top showing through an open jacket. Her stomach peeked through to show it flat and toned. She had two long pigtails flowing behind her down to her waist. Her legs were very prominent to the boy, as he had been looking down when she appeared. They were well defined and one was slowly rubbing up against the other.

"Oh, Sasuke would you like to come and play with me?"

Sasuke's eyes widened and he just stared. She put a finger to her lower lip. A look of fear played over his face. The girl also had three whisker-like lines on each cheek.

Once he pulled his thoughts together he made a break for it by maneuvering around her. He was determined to leave the two crazy blonds in his dust trail. The two blond girls watched him go off, one with an expression in sorrow, the other with her eyes closed and a foxy grin on her face. She turned to her teammate.

"I'm like so much prettier than you." She began to lightly chuckle.

'You're fake!" Ino yelled. She then punched Naruto on top of his head. The henge poofed away. "Don't let me ever catch you using that jutsu again."

"It was worth it. Believe it." He continued to chuckle.

"I don't understand you. Do expect everything to fall out of the sky for you?"

"Huh? What?" Naruto was still sitting on the dirt road.

"These stupid pranks of yours and yelling all the time. You'll never become Hokage like this. It takes hard work and intelligence."

"I work hard, every single day."

Ino didn't dispute this. "And intelligence?"

"I'm not dumb," Naruto protested.

"Then don't act like it. You slack off all the time when it comes to learning. Even at the academy you slacked off during lessons."

"They were boring. Ninjas don't need to know useless stuff like that."

Ino was about to heat up the argument, but instead she paused. She remembered what happened last time she and him had gotten into an argument like this. A grin played across her face. Suddenly a something her father taught her once popped into her head.

"Naruto," she spoke calmly. She began to recite. "You are standing in a dungeon. You managed to get out of your cell. There are two doors, each guarded by a jonin. One leads to freedom and the other leads to the execution chamber. You can only ask one question before they get suspicious of you and take you back. You know that one jonin always lies no matter what, and one jonin tells the truth no matter what. What question do you ask to gain your freedom?"

Naruto blinked several times. Her tone against him had changed completely. "Um couldn't I just beat them up and check both doors?" He didn't quite know what else to say. He was going to argue some more, but then she pulls this on him.

"They're jonin Naruto. So, what's your question?"

"I'll ask the one who tells the truth which is the way out."

"How do you know which one is which?"

"But you just said."

"No Naruto." She spoke slowly and deliberately. She was taking a sort of sadistic pleasure in tormenting him. "I said that you know that one of them lies and one of them tells the truth. I never said you knew which one was which."

"But there's no way out. I'd be guessing." In the back of his mind he was wondering how he ended up arguing about this.

"There is an answer. A Hokage could answer this easy. Hey, even a genin could answer this. It's about intelligence not strength. Some problems you can't beat up. It doesn't matter how strong you get if you can't even solve this riddle."

"Why are you saying this?" He was truly dejected now.

"Mainly to get you to shut up and behave." She looked at his face and added.  
"But don't think this is for mine and everybody else in the village's benefit, it will also help you."

"I'll tell you what. You can go back to orange clothing when you answer the question. No asking for help. This is all you, got it?"

"Yes. I'll solve it in no time and then I can get out of these awful clothes you picked out."

"And what exactly is so bad about the clothes I picked out."

Naruto began shaking. "Nothing, nothing at all."

"Yeah, that's right."

--

"You see the target."

"Yeah I see it. All by himself too. Doesn't even suspect us."

"Don't get cocky. Now move in according to plan. Slowly."

Two figures moved in from the side. The target was moving slowly, minding its own business. It didn't suspect that anything was up.

"You have your sights locked on it?" the first figured asked into his headset.

"Perfect line of sight," a third voice responded. A jutsu was yelled and before the target could react it was subdued. The mission was a success. They take him away and collect their reward.

"That was too easy. Never even saw it coming."

"Yeah, now lets just get a move on."

Another man approached the two of them.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

They turned and looked at him.

"What?" one of them asked.

The man jerked his thumb to the side. They followed it and their sight rested on their comrade lying on the ground. "You may want to pick her up."

"You sure?"

The target hissed at him.

"Alright, alright I'll get her." He walked over and picked up hr body.

The target jumped up into his partner's arms and began rubbing its jaw against them. His eye twitched.

"Okay now we can go. Meet you at the Hokage's office." A poof of smoke later and the man was gone.

--

The three genin had just delivered Tora, the lord of fire's wife's cat back into the woman's waiting arms. Ino was sitting upright, still groggy at having just returned to her own body. Naruto and Sasuke helped her to her feet when she was ready. The three of them looked as she squeezed the cat in a bone-crushing hug.

"I feel sorry for it. Maybe we should have just let it go." His teammates nodded.

The Hokage accepted the payment from the woman. After she left he turned towards the group. The three genin were standing at attention with Kakashi standing behind them, his attention seemed to wander a bit.

"You three have done very well. Now we have a few more missions for today. Babysitting, a wall that needs to be rebuilt, litter cleaning, another gardening job…"

"No way old man." Naruto yelled. His companions looked at him like he was crazy. "We've been doing these lousy, boring missions for long enough. Give me a real mission, something that will be worthy my ninja talents."

"You idiot, you do know who that is don't you?" Ino hissed at him.

"I wouldn't count on it," Sasuke muttered.

"Yeah, he's the Hokage, but I still want a better mission than this. I'm sick and tired of them."

"Naruto," Iruka stood up. "You are genin, fresh out of the academy. You are expected, for a time, to do these low ranked missions, regardless if you find them boring or not."

"Yes Naruto." The Hokage intervened. "Our village gets requests for missions from many different clients and nations everyday, everything from gardening to assassinations. We evaluate these requests and assign them a ranking based on risk and difficulty. D-ranked mission are the lowest done by genin. C-ranked ones are assigned to chunin and experienced genin squads. B-ranks are for high-level chunin and jonin. A-ranks are for jonin only. You are still genin that is why…"

"So I was thinking later we could go to Ichikaru's as they were having this special today…" The boy was sitting on the floor talking to his team with his back facing the table.

"Naruto!" Iruka screamed. A vein throbbed in his head. "Pay attention when the Hokage is speaking to you."

Naruto suppressed a grin and turned around. 'Getting you riled up sensei is too easy.'

"But these missions aren't why I became a ninja," he complained.

The Hokage looked to Kakashi. The teacher looked over his students and looked back at the leader. He gave a small nod.

"Very well." All yelling stopped. "I believe I have just the mission for you."

"Yeah, alright!" Naruto was jumping for joy. "So what is it? What's the mission? Stealing some important document, protecting a princess, rescuing a princess?"

The Hokage ignore his babbling. "Please send him in."

A man bowed and exited through the doors. Less than a minute later the doors opened to reveal another man.

He was old, dirty and at the moment was taking a swig of sake. He had a thatched hat on that had seen better days. His clothes were stitched together and looked more like a compilations of rags and working clothes. The three of them eyed him incredulously.

He lowered his head and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I am the great bridge builder Tazuna and it is your job to protect me, even if it costs you your life."

**A/N: A number of sequences in this chapter weren't planned out ahead of time. I had a general idea of where I wanted this chapter to go, but I hadn't fleshed out any details until I began to write. The main purpose of this chapter was for characterization of the new team. Sakura isn't there to distract Naruto everyday and Ino wouldn't have the same violent reactions because his annoyance is new.  
****  
As for Naruto and Ino's reportage, it has two purposes. The first has to do with Ino's character. She is bossy. In the manga and anime, Shikamaru and Choji submit to her will on episode 2. Naruto isn't likely to do and would just yell back. Ino still wants to boss him around so I had her try a different approach. The Socratic method worked. The second reason is a pet peeve of mine with the series. It's all about Naruto becoming Hokage. Well I know he will be, the show is named after him, I just cannot believe that he will ever be Hokage. In a story you set up the rules of your world and then follow them. Kishimoto set up the rules and then immediatly broke them. Every village leader is shown to be intelligent and diplomatic. Naruto is neither of these and he refuses to learn them.**

As for Sasuke, he is a difficult balancing act. The series says that he was more than a bastard and then gives one example the whole time to try and offset his attitude. I'm trying to make him more believable and interesting than the normal ignore everything so I can kill my brother mentality.


End file.
